Overhead consoles are provided on the interior roof structures of vehicles such as automobiles, boats and airplanes. Overhead consoles generally are centrally mounted on the longitudinal axis of the headliner of the vehicle roof. Overhead consoles are designed to provide passengers of the vehicle additional storage space for items such as sunglasses, garage door openers and compact discs.
Current overhead console systems include a series of accessory compartments for storing items of the passengers in the vehicle. The accessory compartments are pivotally mounted to the console to allow the passenger to stow and retrieve personal items in the console. Additionally, overhead consoles house vehicle accessories and controls for vehicle components, including overhead lighting fixtures and controls for vehicle air conditioning systems. Many overhead consoles further include television monitors and the like which are installed in the vehicle for viewing by the passengers.
Once the overhead consoles have been assembled in the vehicle, additional accessory compartments not previously installed cannot be added to the console without a complete rebuild of the console. For example, a garage door opener mechanism cannot be installed into an overhead console unless the console was originally built to house the device. Further, accessory compartments fixed in the overhead consoles do not allow vehicle passengers to rearrange the positioning of each compartment based on driver or passenger preference. Finally, passengers cannot remove the accessory compartments from the console to transport the stored items. Rather, the items must be removed from the compartments prior to exiting the vehicle.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an overhead console assembly in a vehicle having module accessory compartments that can be easily removed, replaced or rearranged by the occupants of the vehicle.